Prague’s pioneering celebration of all things audiovisual returns for its 10th anniversary, bringing with it an incredible selection of experimental electronic music, mind-expanding visuals and cutting edge new media art.

Returning to Lunchmeat Festival for its 10th anniversary felt like a homecoming in more ways than one. This was partly due to the welcome return of all the things that make the annual event stand apart from similar smaller-scale festivals: an impeccable selection of audiovisual performances and boundary-breaking club acts, a dedicated crowd made up of both A/V nuts and members of Prague’s burgeoning rave scene and the imposing setting of Veletržní Palác, a functionalist fortress in the heart of one of the city’s most exciting neighbourhoods.

Lunchmeat Festival, Centrum Architektury a Městského Plánování

Escher Fucker present ‘Citrinitas’

Escher Fucker present ‘Citrinitas’

Elías Merino & Tadej Droljc present ‘SYNSPECIES’

Lunchmeat Festival, Ankali

Lunchmeat Festival, Ankali

Lunchmeat Festival, Veletržní Palác

Lunchmeat Festival, Veletržní Palác

FLORA

Lotic & Emmanuel Biard present ‘Endless Power’

Lotic & Emmanuel Biard present ‘Endless Power’

Lunchmeat Festival, Veletržní Palác

Sote & Boris Vitázek

Caterina Barbieri presents ‘Time-blind’

Ryoichi Kurokawa presents ‘subassemblies’

Konx-om-Pax presents ‘Ways of Seeing’

HDMIRROR presents ‘ASCENSION™’

Lunchmeat Festival, Veletržní Palác

Murcof & Sergi Palau

Jesse Osborne-Lanthier w/ Orkhan Mammad & Gabriela Prochazka

Aid Kid & Pavel Karafiát

Lakker present ‘Epoca’

Yet what was most striking about this year’s edition of the festival was the extent to which it had improved upon an already enticing premise. Tangible care and passion was evident in every aspect of the event, from the chillout area bathed in warm, pink light to the incredible sound in each of the festival’s main rooms. By pairing some of this year’s most acclaimed audiovisual acts, including Caterina Barbieri, Konx-Om-Pax and Lotic, with impressive local performances from Aid Kid and The Nent and expanding the program into some of the Czech capital’s most interesting spaces, such as CAMP and Ankali, Lunchmeat has created an audiovisual festival to rival that of Atonal and Unsound.

A potent sense of community and enthusiasm provided the backdrop to Lunchmeat’s most affecting moments. FLORA brought the crowd to total silence to pay tribute to a recently murdered friend, before blasting a track released posthumously by the artist’s mother and pouring out a bottle of champagne as a libation. When Jesse Osborne-Lanthier’s hard drive containing visuals he had worked on for over a year to perfect malfunctioned unexpectedly, local artists Orkhan Mammad and Gabriela Prochazka were on hand to help him put together a last-minute show. Intimate and emotional moments like these single out Lunchmeat as a truly unique experience.